British Campaign and Gallantry Medals

Family group:

An unusual Second World War O.B.E. group of six awarded to Wing Commander G. W. Houghton, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was an official R.A.F. war correspondent in the Middle East and afterwards the Officer in Charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North-West Europe 1944-45: his earlier experiences in the Western Desert are recorded in his book They Flew Through Sand

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf (emblem damaged and loose), all unnamed as issued, mounted court style as worn

The Second World War campaign group of three awarded to Miss K. I. Staughton, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force - the Wing Commander’s wife

France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; Women’s Royal Voluntary Service Long Service, all unnamed as issued, the first two in original addressed card forwarding box with related Air Ministry slip, and the last in case of issue, together with two wartime identity discs, good very fine and better (lot) £300-350

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1945. ‘Acting Group Captain, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve’.

Recommendation reads, ‘Group Captain G. W. Houghton has been in charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force for almost the entire period since the landings in Normandy on ‘D’ Day and has been the greatest assistance in the building up of the Inter-Allied Public Relations Organisation. He has, more recently, been the main link with the Air Ministry on this work, and has personally established an extremely efficient orgaisation with the units in the field. His tireless work and loyal support, especially during the landings in Normandy, have aided the maintenance of the very standards attained by his section.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1943 (Squadron Leader); 17 September 1943 (Acting Wing Commander).

George William Houghton, who was born in Perth, Scotland in September 1905, the son of Herbert Frodsham Houghton, was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in April 1940, where his pre-war qualifications as a journalist were quickly put to use.

Posted to the Middle East as an official R.A.F. war correspondent, he visited many units and locations in the Western Desert, and came into contact with numerous personalities of the Desert Air Force, “Imshi” Mason among them. So, too, did he come under fire during enemy raids. In addition to his powers of observation and gifts as a writer, Houghton was also a competent artist, and a number of his drawings and sketches were reproduced in his popular wartime title They Flew Through Sand - soon after the war he dramatised one of the incidents described in the book for the B.B.C., and the lead actor, Kenneth More (fresh from active service in the Royal Navy) was praised for his performance by the Royal Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Houghton was twice mentioned in despatches for his services in North Africa and had attained the acting rank of Wing Commander by the time he returned home from the Mediterranean theatre.

Next employed as Officer in Charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North-West Europe 1944-45, a role that included him witnessing the Normandy landings, Houghton ended the War in the rank of Acting Group Captain and was awarded the O.B.E. He finally relinquished his commission in the R.A.F.V.R. in February 1954, and was permitted to retain his rank as Group Captain on the same occasion.

Krithia Isabel Staughton was awarded her Women’s Royal Voluntary Service L.S. Medal for services in Bridport, Dorset, where she settled after marrying Group Captain G. W. Houghton, O.B.E.

With two M.I.D. certificates in envelope addressed to ‘Wing Commander G. W. Houghton, O.B.E., National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.1’; medal card forwarding box (damaged), addressed to ‘G/Cpt. G. W. Houghton, Spinney Nook, Broadway, Letchworth, Herts.’; recipient’s passport; framed and glazed portrait photograph of recipient in uniform; copied photograph of the recipient in North Africa, 1942; books (2) They Flew Through Sand, The Notes and Sketches of an R.A.F. Officer in the Western Desert, by George W. Houghton, Jarrolds, London, 1942; another, a 1991 reprint; and a quantity of copied gazette extracts. His wife’s W.W.2 medals in card box of issue addressed to ‘K. I. Staughton Miss, Spinney Nook, Broadway, Letchworth, Herts.’